Kaneria life ban appeal dismissed

Danish Kaneria has "exhausted all the legal options available to him to appeal a life ban", according to the ECB

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Former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria has once again had an application to appeal his life ban from cricket dismissed, the England and Wales Cricket Board has announced.

Kaneria was banned by an ECB disciplinary council in June 2012 after being was found guilty of corruption while playing with Essex during a Pro40 match in 2009.

The 33-year-old has repeatedly tried to overturn the punishment, but his latest appeal was "totally without merit", according to Rt Hon Sir Stanley Burnton, sitting in the Court of Appeal, Civil Division.

With Kaneria unable to have the decision reconsidered, the ECB said he has "exhausted all the legal options available to him to appeal a life ban".

Kaneria was convicted of ''cajoling and pressurising'' former team-mate Mervyn Westfield into accepting cash in return for trying to concede a set number of runs in an over while with Essex.

Westfield was sentenced to four months in prison and received a five-year ban from professional cricket for his part in the scandal although Kaneria has repeatedly protested his innocence.

Yet he has seen numerous appeal attempts thrown out and the ECB's announcement that Kaneria has no legal options available to him that would appear to bring the saga to a close.

ECB chairman Giles Clarke said: "ECB welcomes today's decision to dismiss the application by Mr Kaneria to appeal the life ban imposed for his corrupt activity. Mr Kaneria acted as a recruiter of potential 'spot-fixers' and used his seniority and international experience to target and corrupt a young and vulnerable player."

"It is high time that Mr Kaneria came clean about his involvement in these corrupt activities and stopped misleading the Pakistan cricket fans and wider public with his empty protestations of innocence.

"We once again urge him to apologise publicly for his past actions and to start the process of redeeming himself by supporting the Pakistan Cricket Board's anti-corruption initiatives and assisting the police and law enforcement bodies in the Asian sub-continent with the vital job of exposing and cutting off the primary source of cricket corruption."

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